Blood of a Malfoy
Chapter Eleven
Harry stuttered a bit as he got his bearings back. "I'm sorry," he said, his neck straining forward in disbelief. "You're my what?"
Saetan let loose a relatively bemused chuckle. "I'm your Grandfather Childe. I was Lily's Sire."
"What...how!" Harry cried regarding the man-who appeared perhaps in his mid-thirties-"Surely if I had family...you don't look a day over thirty-five...Dumbledore wouldn't have sent me to live with the Dursleys..." he trailed off at Saetan's rather sudden solemnity at the sound of the Dursleys.
"You will find that Vampyr's age very slowly my Childe," Saetan said. "And it is that very same ability that also puts us at odds with the modern world. If I had know you had survived that fateful attack upon my daughter and her mate, I would have taken you in that very same night. Alas, Vampyr's remain, mostly in isolation, I did not know that Lily's Childe still roamed this world. If I had then I would have taken your from those mortals care."
Harry snorted in anger. All those years of abuse at the Dursley's. All that pain and suffering. The isolation and seclusion of living in a cupboard under the stairs. The constant pressure on his mind and body. The continual repetition that he was a freak. Insisted upon so often that he eventually came to believe it himself. The slight solace that all of this was for a reason. That he was being protected by his mother's blood. His last remaining relatives. And now that was all for naught.
"You..." Harry said, voice shaking with barely suppressed rage. "Have no excuse. Your daughter was killed. You knew that. Your daughter was killed by a raving lunatic and you didn't think enough to check up on her child? On a baby that couldn't fend for itself. You live in such isolation that you don't even pay attention to your very BLOOD?"
Saetan assessed him calmly. "Childe, I never met your mother. Lily's inheritance was controllable and concealed, and Dawnelle-your grandmother-never told me she had been pregnant before she died. I learned of her existence from another source, barely a year before you were born. After that, I watched over you both after your birth, but I was not nearby the night of the attack, and I believed you had died."
While he had been speaking, Saetan had retracted his wings, claws, and fangs, and now looked relatively human, save for his eyes, which still looked eerily supernatural. Harry shifted his wings in agitation. Saetan chuckled under his breath, ignoring Harry's glare.
"Control comes in time Childe," Saetan said lightly. "More so for you with your diluted blood."
Harry narrowed his eyes at him, apparently trying to decide whether or not he was being insulted. Saetan's face remained passive, giving Harry no cause to lean one way or the other. Harry shrugged it off.
"Vampyr's have few rules," Saetan said slowly. "But one of the few we do have is that we remain in the shadows. We do not live in the open. It is far to dangerous. Isolation gives us security, so much so that people actually begin to question whether or not we actually exist. And with your foolishness all of that security has been thrown to the wind."
"WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?" Harry shouted. "I didn't understand what was happening. It's not like you or any other Vampyr showed up to tell me what to expect. I had to be told what exactly I was. So excuse me if I wasn't overly concerned with staying hidden."
Saetan regarded him carefully. "The question is what to do with you now that you have already been out in the open? It is clear that you do not know how to control your inheritance, and you can not remain here with these mortals (the word was said in disgust). Yet you retain a public persona and there would be complicated questions should you disappear."
Harry sputtered. "This isn't up for discussion. I'm not about to disappear. If you wanted the existence of Vampyrs to remain hidden you should have seen to it that you didn't leave any unsuspecting teenagers out to face the harsh reality of their inhuman natures alone."
Saetan shook his head. "You don't understand our culture Childe. This has never happened before. Save for you and your mother, no Childe has ever come into their inheritance unknowingly. And none but you have ever made a spectacle out of it. As you are still a minor you are my responsibility in the lack of another Vampyric guardian."
Harry grumbled. "I'm not just a Vampyr you know. You don't have ultimate say over my doings. Actually, you don't have any say over me at all. You don't have any legal rights to me."
"We shall see about that Childe. As your last remaining relative I should have all custodial rights. And if I don't automatically it should not be hard to go through the channels to receive them."
Harry exploded. "YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ME! You haven't been around for me at any time...haven't cared at all until I ruin your precious secret. NO! Don't give me that crap about not knowing I was alive. I don't care! YOU. DON'T. KNOW. ME. And now I'm going to walk away, and we are never going to speak again."
Harry turned on his heel and started to walk in the direction of Hogwarts. He made it a couple of steps when he was enveloped in large dark wings and seconds later found himself in the air.
Well, thought Harry, it was worth a shot.
Saetan carried his grand-Childe off towards the mortal magic school after the boy's emotional outburst. He had half a mind to take the Childe home with him, but was bright enough to realize that the disappearance of the "Boy-Who-Lived" (Saetan wasn't so dense as to never have heard that title, just never had connected the dots to his grandson) would cause an all-out manhunt in the Wizarding World. A man-hunt that Saetan could ill afford. Which was why he was planning on doing things vaguely legally.
As sole remaining relative to the boy it should be easy to receive custodial and parental rights to him through any government. It would be more difficult without the boy's cooperation, but still possible. Add that to the fact that magical creatures had the right to take charge of orphaned magical creatures of the same ilk, and he had a rock solid case.
Still, there remained the matter of secrecy. Saetan figured that the boy's transformation could be explained away give a few years or so. A genetic mutation of submissive genes or some such excuse. Saetan could risk those assumptions.
What Saetan could not risk was the exposure of his kind. After the massacres following the Grindelwald episode-most of whom had died were actually innocent of the charges-Saetan, as the leader of the Vampyrs had taken great pains to ensure that such happenings would never occur again.
He would make sure that his GrandChilde was well taken care of, safe within the folds of the Vampyric world, he couldn't do otherwise. But staying out in the public eye wasn't an option.
Draco grumbled slightly as he followed the bond-trail to find a missing Vampyr. He hadn't seen Harry since right before he had gone flying, several hours before. It was nearing curfew now and, loathe as he was to admit it, he was becoming concerned. The impossible Gryffindor usually came to him once more to solidify the bond for the night.
The Veela shook his head at his own foolishness as he followed the trail up to the Owlrey. Potter was probably just sending off a letter or visiting with his snowy owl-Hedwig, he believed. His hand hesitated on the doorknob before he opened it. He didn't want to seem too needy, too dependent. He sighed and twisted the know...and was surprised when it didn't turn.
He stepped back in confusion. What possible reason could Potter have for being locked up in an Owlrey? Now natural Slytherin curiosity had taken hold and all sense of caution was thrown to the wind in the hopes of finding the Gryffindor Golden Boy doing something particularly nefarious.
"Alohamora," Draco cast and the lock on the door clicked open. He twisted the knob and entered the Owlrey...
Only to be faced by a raging Potter springing at him, but falling back an inch before his face. The Vampyr's eyes were blood red with visible anger and his fangs had bit into his lip, leaving a trail of blood flowing to his chin.
The Vampyr was secured to one of the poles in the Owlrey by a chain which ran to a sturdy metal cuff snapped on Harry's right wrist. The room was practically pulsing with suppressed magic.
Draco, thoroughly startled and trying his damndest to seem impassive, assessed all this and caught Harry's eyes, waiting patiently until the Gryffindor acknowledged him and calmed down slightly.
"Malfoy," Harry greeted curtly. "You were not who I was expecting."
Figuring that was as close to an apology as he would receive for the boy's abrupt attack, Draco persisted on with questioning him in the most eloquent way he could think of.
"What the fuck is going on here Potter?" he demanded, waving his hand haphazardly at the chain and Harry's "teetering-on-the-edge" mentality.
"I wish I knew that myself Malfoy," Potter sneered. "One moment I was flying out near the Quidditch Pitch, the next I was tackled to the ground by my psychotic grandfather who seems to be under the MISTAKEN impression that he is going to gain custody of me and whisk me out of the Wizarding World forever. I resisted the idea of course, and the next thing I know...after being commandeered through the air...I end up in the Owlrey, birds springing everywhere, and CHAINED TO A FUCKING POLE!"
Draco pursed his lips. "You realize of course Potter that you could easily break that chain?" He indicated the boy's free hand and referred to the Vampyr's inhuman strength.
Harry snorted. "The idea has been tried and found wanting," he muttered, flashing his red left hand–raw from trying to pry off the cuff. "It's obviously spelled against magic too, or at least, it's spelled against me."
During their conversation, the boy's eyes had lost most of their red tint and his fangs hand retracted slightly, leaving him looking mostly tired...and vulnerable.
Harry sank to the ground. "I don't like this Draco..." he admitted softly. "I don't like being chained up like this. It makes me feel like some kind of animal... I used to be chained up like this all the time..." the boy trailed off, sounding uncertain and mostly speaking to himself. Draco felt a strange bout of sympathy remembering the abuse he and his godfather had discovered prior to Harry's inheritance.
"Alohamora," Draco attempted, directly the spell at the cuff on Harry's wrist. Nothing happened and Draco was hardly surprised.
"Damn," he muttered, "well that didn't work..."
"That would be," said a new voice suddenly, "because that chain is keyed directly to me."
Turning around abruptly, Draco's silvery gaze met emerald eyes and both snarled in recognition. Beside the seemingly human Vampyr stood a tired werewolf. Lupin.
At the sight of his captor, Harry's eyes had regained their fiery glow and he had stood, spreading his wings imposingly, looking every bit the fallen angel. His lips were even pulled back in a feral snarl, exposing his fangs.
Despite this, the other Vampyr didn't even flinch when he looked on Harry. Lupin, though running a tired hand through his slightly graying hair, didn't seem surprised. Draco took a weary step back.
The werewolf turned to the older Vampyr accusingly. "Really Saetan," he exclaimed. "Was this necessary?" He didn't wait for an answer and turned to Harry. "It's ok Harry. Just calm down. Your grandfather was just slightly overzealous."
Harry cocked his head, seemingly in thought. Then, slowly, his eyes reverted to their usual emerald color, though they retained a hard glint.
"Get this thing off of me," the Gryffindor demanded, shaking the chain. Lupin sent Saetan an expectant look.
"Oh all right," the man grumbled darkly. "But when he goes crazy and tries to kill you, don't blame me."
"The only one in this room I'd like to try and kill is you," Harry sneered.
Saetan sighed and shrugged his shoulders in a "what-can-you-do" manner. He approached Harry cautiously and tapped his hand against the cuff. "Release," he commanded, and the cuff fell away and vanished before it hit the floor.
Harry's attack on Saetan was sudden and, to Draco, utterly unexpected. He leaped at his grandfather, fangs enlarged and claws reaching for his throat.
Luckily, Draco was the only one who had not expected such an attack. Remus and Saetan had both been prepared. In seconds, Harry was pinned against the wall by his grandfather and Remus was speaking urgently in Harry's pointed ear.
"Harry, this isn't what you want," Remus said to the ruby-eyed Gryffindor. "Don't let this anger control you Harry. Just calm down. That's it." Harry's eyes reverted to their usual emerald intensity. Saetan stepped back. "Good."
"What's going on?" Harry demanded, eyeing Saetan warily. "What the hell do you think you're playing at? And you," he addressed Lupin. "How do you know him?"
"Perhaps," said Saetan imperiously. "We could discuss this in a more suitable environment?" He eyed their surroundings with distaste.
Remus chuckled in an indulgent manner. "You and your high-class sensibilities Saetan," he shook his head. "We'll go to my quarters."
The walk to Remus' rooms was uneventful. As it was after curfew there were no students wandering the halls. Harry stayed as far away from Saetan as possible. Stopping in front of a portrait of an armored knight Remus turned to Draco.
"Perhaps you..." he began.
"I'm not leaving," Draco cut him off shortly in a tone that brooked no argument. Remus nodded reluctantly.
The four magical beings entered a modestly adorned living room with two leather couches and an armchair settled near a rug in front of the fire. A bedroom and bathroom ran off of this main room, their doors closed.
Saetan settled back in the armchair while Harry sat next to Draco on the couch furthest from him. Lupin, quite obviously playing mediator, settled down on the couch between them.
There was a tense, uncomfortable silence for a few moments and then Remus spoke.
"I suppose you have a few questions."
Hey everyone. This was mostly just a filler chapter but it's effective none the less. An issue has come up that I think needs to be discussed.
THIS IS A NON-SLASH STORY. I think I mentioned that in the summary but just in case some people have been unjustly holding out for a HPDM pairing, its not gonna happen. Sorry to everyone that has been misled. It is not and never has been my intention to have such a pairing. I do have plans for romance on both Harry and Draco's parts, but that will happen in a short while.
So once again, my apologies and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review. --